


the driving force

by oceaneyeslance



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, Other, Voltron au, i love my boy ok, superhuman!lance, superpower au, very lance centric lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 19:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14361660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceaneyeslance/pseuds/oceaneyeslance
Summary: Roughly one thousand people on Earth were born with abnormal powers. Only the foolish would reveal their powers, and when they did nobody saw them again. The smarter few decided to never tell a soul about their powers. If they got lucky, their family would accept and hide the truth from others as well.Lance was one of those ‘lucky’ people.





	the driving force

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my first fanfic on archive of our own! i've posted some small things on my langst tumblr account (including this) so i'm really excited to be posting this here! i have other fics in the making as well, so i'll post those here when i'm done with them too! i hope you like it :)

Roughly one thousand people on Earth were born with abnormal powers. Nobody knew when these powers started appearing, but anyone with them would be hunted down by scientists wanting to test on them or bounty hunters wanting the money their bodies gave. Only the foolish would reveal their powers, and when they did nobody saw them again. The smarter few decided to never tell a soul about their powers. If they got lucky, their family would accept and hide the truth from others as well.

Lance was one of those ‘lucky’ people.

-

Lance wanted out of Earth.

He wanted to go to the stars, to see the far reaches of the universe, to explore every planet and solar system he could. Adventure was one thing he craved, but really all he wanted was freedom. He wanted to be free from the confinements of Earth, where people like him weren’t accepted. 

Lance’s powers were water-based. If he wasn’t so afraid of being caught, he’d practice every day at the beach by his family’s house. But, because the world works that way, he had to hide in his room or in the bathroom to feel the water flowing around him as the power rushed through his veins.

Space was unknown, unnamed land. Land with no laws, and no crazed scientists or murderers, if you were lucky. Space was where Lance could be free.

-

He thought it couldn’t get any better when he was accepted as a cargo pilot. Sure, he was aiming for fighter pilot, but he couldn’t be too picky. All he wanted to do was leave, and any way possible was okay for him. But, to make it seem believable to his friends and others, he acted like he was disappointed about not getting into the fighter class.

And then the kid with the mullet dropped out, and Lance was thrown headfirst into the fighter pilot class. 

Lance’s powers and stress don’t go typically go hand-in-hand. Whenever his anxiety would get worked up, so would his powers, which made them even more difficult to control and hide. Who was Lance to know that being a fighter pilot in a class with Iverson was this stressful?

His team and roommates, Hunk and Pidge, were always with him 24/7. Lance couldn’t even have a moment in peace, which meant he couldn’t unleash his powers at all.

Just when he thought he couldn’t hold it in any more, a previously dead pilot crash lands right before their very eyes, and then the world--no, the universe as Lance knew it changed within a day.

-

Lance has seen weird. Lance has seen abnormal. Lance was weird and abnormal. He wasn’t human, according to the world, but even he would know that the giant lion they found in a cave is something Earth could never make in Lance’s lifetime. 

So if Lance was weird and abnormal, it would seem that the shining blue robot lion looming above him and the Cuban superhuman it was looking at would be a perfect match.

-

Lance has never felt more open and free in his life.

Granted, he was currently fighting in an intergalactic space war and hundreds were perishing everyday, but he was fighting to save them. That thought gave him a little hope.

Maybe Earth just wasn’t his speed. On every planet he’s been on, there’s been a different experience and different ways of life. There’s been aliens with powers just like the people on Earth, and they weren’t maltreated or feared. Lance actually felt accepted on every planet he’s been on.

Of course, nobody knows about his powers yet, and he has no plan to share that information.

He’s lived his whole life in fear of what people will think and what they will do. He trusts his team, his space family, but powers on Earth were hated and feared.

Lance didn’t want to be the one who had to leave because of how he was born.

-

Lance felt like he was being selfish.

His powers could be used for so much good as a paladin of Voltron. They could win battles quicker and have backup plans and more strategy plans to choose from. But Lance was terrified. You can’t blame him; he was raised to fear his own powers after all.

So, to make up for it, he trained in secret every night. He worked on perfecting his powers and trying out new varieties of his powers. Lance figured out he could control ice as well, which he might have never found out if he was still on Earth.  
After a few days of intense secret training and boosting his confidence, Lance felt like he had it down. In the following missions that Voltron would have, he would not only be their sharpshooter, but he would also give a little help from the sidelines with his powers. 

-

Lance’s plan went wrong. Way wrong.

The first problem was that it was more difficult that Lance expected it to be. Balancing being a sniper, who needed focus and precision, while also controlling a force of nature that was plowing through Galra forces was not easy at all. He would try and keep his powers on the down low; making sure he was being stealthy while destroying the sentries with his water and ice powers. At the same time, he had to defend his team fighting on the front lines from enemy forces surrounding them. 

The second problem was that while he was too busy trying to do both sharpshooting and water stealth attacks, he never heard the troop sneaking up behind him.

Before he knew it he was hit on the head and he slumped forward, his vision going dark.

-

Lance awoke facing the rest of his team.

They were still on the planet (thank god), but the team didn’t look so good.

Lance tried to go to them, but something was stopping him. He looked down; his legs and arms were bound and his bayard was tossed aside. His team was tied up as well, looking tired yet pissed. Keith looked like he had smoke coming out of his ears. His face would have been funny if not for the situation.

“Well, well,” a snarling voice came from behind Lance. He jumped involuntarily as a cold blade slid over his face, and a Galra soldier came around to stand in front of him. “The paladins of Voltron, all tied up and defeated.”

Lance got one hard look at the Galra in front of him before he decided that he was very bad news. 

“Our backup is coming,” said Shiro firmly. “I would suggest you leave before they arrive.”

Lance knew that was false. Allura and Coran were planets away, and the planet they were on to talk about joining the coalition had a bad “wifi signal” as he had put it before. Reaching them via coms was virtually impossible. Help wasn’t coming.

But Lance knew that there was already a way out of this.

-

A few minutes had gone by, with the Galra soldier spewing a speech about how Zarkon would be pleased and that Voltron is no more because of his troops.

Lance tuned them out and instead tried to think of a plan that didn’t involve him revealing his powers. Of course, nothing else came up.

He could tell the team was scared, even if they were hiding it from the Galra soldier. He was scared too, but not for the same reason. Lance knew they were scared of this being the last mission of this Voltron generation. Lance was scared of the team’s reaction to his powers.

But he’s not stupid enough to let them all die because he was a coward.

While the Galra soldier and his troops were distracted for the moment, Lance worked on slowly freezing his bonds in hopes they would shatter and he could fight. He was halfway there when suddenly the soldier stopped talking and shoved his blaster into Lance’s face.

Hunk gasped and started protesting, but the gun blocked Lance’s view from what Hunk looked like. He could feel the heat from the energy coming off the gun in waves, whirring noises coming from the barrel. He froze, looking at the soldier with wide eyes.

“Zarkon had given me orders,” the Galra said. “It is Voltron’s time to perish and end. Starting with you.”

The gun whirred to life and Lance knew what was coming. It was now or never.

He broke the bonds on his arms and legs and dove to the left. The shot barely missed his face, heat singeing the side of his head as it passed. He rolled to his knees as the soldier shook away his surprise and aimed at him again. Lance got lucky last time; he knew this time he wouldn’t be able to dodge this.

As the gun fired and his teammates screamed, a wall of ice shot out in front of him.

-

There was a moment of silence. A pause, as Lance panted behind his ice barrier. Nothing moved and Lance’s heart echoed in his ears. A ceasefire for a split second, and then chaos reigned down on Lance.

The sentries and the soldiers shot rapid fire at Lance’s figure has he dodged and created shields of ice and water. Power surged through him and he felt a rush of adrenaline. He was hyperaware of his surroundings as he unleashed his full power on the Galra forces. 

Water flowed around him as he moved gracefully through the laser shots and the blades. Ice froze sentries and soldiers alike in their tracks and stopped energy bolts seconds away from hitting Lance. He moved as he had trained to, he and his powers one in the same.

The soldiers were already halfway down, and nothing had even touched Lance yet. He created a shard of ice and used it as a sword, stabbing through robots and taking down soldiers. His water swirled around him in a fury as he fought with vigour. 

And as soon as it had started, it was done.

Lance stood in a pile of robots and soldiers, soaking wet and frost covering his arms and neck. He heaved big breaths and dropped the ice shard. He willed the water to stop as he turned to help release his team.

It was silent as Lance undid everyone’s bonds. Fatigue overcame him as did fear; fatigue from overusing his powers and fear from what his team would say. As soon as everyone was untied, Lance took off to where they landed the lions.

“Lance, wait!” The team protested behind him, but he didn’t listen. He ran all the way to Blue and shut himself in her cockpit.

He slumped into the pilot’s seat and took a shuddering breath. “Blue… What if they’ll hate me now?” Lance whispered, running a hand over his face. “I hid this from them for so long, they might not trust me anymore…”

Blue, bless her, purred encouragingly in the back of his mind. Her warm and kind presence reassured him. A confidence filled Lance knowing that Blue will stand behind him always.

Blue took off towards the castle, the other lions tailing close behind.

-

Lance didn’t know why he was afraid in the first place.

Hunk and Pidge were ecstatic as he stepped out of Blue. Pidge demanded that she would watch him train with his powers and see what he could do. Hunk said that he would be more than up to training with him and helping Lance find out what else he could do with his powers.

Allura and Coran had an odd reaction. They have obviously seen many different species of aliens, a lot of them with powers too. They didn’t understand that Earth wasn’t a planet full of powers, and that only a select few had them, so Lance promised he would teach them more about Earth and its culture. 

Keith and Shiro’s reactions were the ones that Lance was the most scared about. At first, they were shocked and didn’t talk to him as Pidge babbled around him, but they eased up soon enough. Keith, of course, started a challenge, saying that he could definitely still beat Lance in sparring even with his powers. Lance laughed, a weight lifting off his shoulders when he heard Keith’s playful banter. 

Shiro still hadn’t said anything. Lance gulped, as the chatter around him quieted down as he turned towards their leader. “So you… have powers, huh?” Shiro started slowly, saying his words with caution. Lance nodded.

“And you can control water?” He asked, and Lance nodded again. There was a slight shudder in his voice that Lance detected.

“I-I figured out I could control ice too,” Lance added. “And I might be able to control other water-based things too, according to Pidge…” 

He stopped talking when Shiro lifted his non-metal hand. Lance’s eyes widened as he noticed that his hand was shaking. Shiro was scared, and that might have been the first time Lance has seen him visually scared. Lance shrank back, afraid that Shiro was scared of him. Until he saw what happened next.

With a shuddering sigh, Shiro closed his eyes as a shard of metal protruded from his hand. Lance’s breath hitched as more pitch black metal covered the floor around Shiro’s feet, spreading out at a slow pace. He looked back up, and the one shard of metal coming from his hand turned into a multitude; some climbing up his arm while the others made oblique and abstract shapes. 

“I’m not as good as you are at this, but… I guess we’re the same, right?” Shiro said, his voice almost a whisper.

Lance stared at the black shapes for a while longer, his mind unbelieving and skeptical. But he pushed those thoughts back as he looked into Shiro’s eyes, tears filling his own.

All of a sudden Lance screamed happily and threw his arms around Shiro, tears streaming down his face as he laughed.

-

Lance missed his family, he knew that for a fact.

He missed the warm hugs and the spicy food, the calm seas and the buzzing of activity.

But Earth was not his home.

He has Hunk’s warm hugs and his excellent spicy space food. He has the calm waves of the pool and the buzzing of activity in the lounge. He has Keith’s challenging remarks and Pidge’s sarcastic comments. He has Allura’s sisterly love and Coran’s long, but exciting stories. He has Shiro’s support and Blue’s motherly care. He has the laughs and the cries, the ups and the downs. He has one of his own kind. He has a space family now.

And to him, that was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you all for reading! this is the first thing i've posted on here, so i hope you enjoy it!
> 
> tumblr: https://ocean-eyes-lance.tumblr.com/ OR https://mortdoggy.tumblr.com/
> 
> instagram: mortdoggy


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